Reflex eyeblinks and visual suppression

Manning, Karen; Riggs, Lorrin A.; Komenda, Julieane K.

doi:10.3758/bf03202953

Cited by 55 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Reflexive eye blinks occur involuntarily, in response to some external stimulus (such as a loud noise or a puff of air directed at the cornea), whereas voluntary eye blinks are made in response to experimental instructions or other endogenous factors. Reflexive and voluntary eye blinks affect visual sensitivity in the same way (Manning et al, 1983;Volkmann, 1986;Volkmann, Riggs, Ellicott, & Moore, 1982;Volkmann et al, 1980), so it is possible that reflexive eye blinks would cause attention to move downward just as do voluntary eye blinks. If it is the eye movement per se that is important, the same results should be found for both reflexive and voluntary eye movements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where does attention go when you blink?

Irwin

2011

Atten Percept Psychophys

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Many studies have shown that covert visual attention precedes saccadic eye movements to locations in space. The present research investigated whether the allocation of attention is similarly affected by eye blinks. Subjects completed a partial-report task under blink and noblink conditions. Experiment 1 showed that blinking facilitated report of the bottom row of the stimulus array: Accuracy for the bottom row increased and mislocation errors decreased under blink, as compared with no-blink, conditions, indicating that blinking influenced the allocation of visual attention. Experiment 2 showed that this was true even when subjects were biased to attend elsewhere. These results indicate that attention moves downward before a blink in an involuntary fashion. The eyes also move downward during blinks, so attention may precede blink-induced eye movements just as it precedes saccades and other types of eye movements.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where does attention go when you blink?

Irwin

2011

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…Incidental observations in our laboratory confirm the presence of this eyelid closure even in the absence of an auditory stimulus. 7 Aside from the obvious idea that eyelid closure would eliminate most of the useful information that might fallon the retina, eyeblinks (both voluntary and involuntary) have been shown to decrease the sensitivity of the retina to light even when the light was presented so as to bypass the lids and optics of the eye (Manning, Riggs, & Komenda, 1983). Thus, the visual system seems to have relatively little capacity to modulate the gaze movement on the basis of information arriving later from the retina.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Auditory psychomotor coordination and visual search performance

Perrott

Saberi

Brown

et al. 1990

Perception & Psychophysics

148

107

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In Experiments 1 and 2, the time to locate and identify a visual target (visual search performance in a two-alternative forced-choice paradigm) was measured as a function of the location of the target relative to the subject's initial line of gaze. In Experiment 1, tests were conducted within a 260°region on the horizontal plane at a fixed elevation (eye level). In Experiment 2, the position of the target was varied in both the horizontal (260°) and the vertical (±46°from the initial line of gaze) planes. In both experiments, and for all locations tested, the time required to conduct a visual search was reduced substantially (175-1,200 msec) when a 10-Hz click train was presented from the same location as that occupied by the visual target. Significant differences in latencies were still evident when the visual target was located within 10°of the initial line of gaze (central visual field). In Experiment 3, we examined head and eye movements that occur as subjects attempt to locate a sound source. Concurrent movements of the head and eyes are commonly encountered during auditorily directed search behavior. In over half of the trials, eyelid closures were apparent as the subjects attempted to orient themselves toward the sound source. The results from these experiments support the hypothesis that the auditory spatial channel has a significant role in regulating visual gaze. Statement of the ProblemThe auditory system in human beings has only limited spatial resolving power; the ability to discriminate the location of a sound source, for example, is seldom better than 1°-2 0.1 Although an extensive literature exists on the topic of auditory spatial processes, little attention has been paid to evaluating the function of this system. In our search for a role for the auditory spatial system, we assumed that the function it serves must require no more than the limited resolution normally observed. We wish to suggest the following hypothesis: The primary function of the auditory spatial system may be to provide information that allows the individual to redirect the eyes in order to bring the fovea into line with an acoustically active object. Since the fovea, which is the most powerful information processing segment of the retina, extends over several degrees of visual angle, additional auditory spatial capacity may not have had any adaptive value. In the following section, we will attempt to present the arguments that led us to this conclusion. OverviewIn human beings, the eyes are located relatively close together at the front of the head. One cost of this arrangement is that people have available only a limited sample of the immediate environment. As noted by Gibson

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“…It corresponds to dopamine pathway activity integrity (Karson, 1983;Taylor et al 1999) within the attention and cognitive control systems (van Bochove, Van der Haegen, Notebaert, & Verguts, 2013). Blinks reduce the processing of inputs-not only by physically blocking input, but also by cortically suppressing visual processing, even to unchanging retinal stimulation (Manning, Riggs, & Komenda, 1983;Volkmann, Riggs, & Moore, 1980). Decreasing visual inputs induces a shift in the balance of processing from external stimuli to internal representations.…”

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confidence: 99%

Sudden insight is associated with shutting out visual inputs

et al. 2015

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Creative ideas seem often to appear when we close our eyes, stare at a blank wall, or gaze out of a window-all signs of shutting out distractions and turning attention inward. Prior research has demonstrated that attention-related brain areas are differently active when people solve problems with sudden insight (the Aha! phenomenon), relative to deliberate, analytic solving. We directly investigated the relationship between attention deployment and problem solving by recording eye movements and blinks, which are overt indicators of attention, as people solved short, visually presented problems. In the preparation period, before problems eventually solved by insight, participants blinked more frequently and longer, and made fewer fixations, than before problems eventually solved by analysis. Immediately prior to solutions, participants blinked longer and looked away from the problem more often when solving by insight than when solving analytically. These phenomena extend prior research with a direct demonstration of dynamic differences in attention as people solve problems with sudden insight versus analytically.

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Reflex eyeblinks and visual suppression

Cited by 55 publications

References 20 publications

Where does attention go when you blink?

Where does attention go when you blink?

Auditory psychomotor coordination and visual search performance

Sudden insight is associated with shutting out visual inputs

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